TI is putting the pressure on Intel to deliver smaller, faster, chips for the the mobile space

Today, Texas Instrument has made a startling announcement
that it will exceed Intel in terms of chip production and power consumption
performance. Both companies are large players in the mobile chip market,
especially for cell phones, but TI currently leads the charts. Both Intel and
TI produce processors and memory for hand held devices too, but according to TI the company will be one step ahead of Intel in 45nm technology.

According to a
report by Reuters, TI will double the number of chips that it can
produce on each wafer of silicon by utilizing an advanced 45nm fabrication
process. According to TI, processor speeds will increase by as much as 30
percent and power utilization cut by as much as 40 percent. For the mobile
market, this is definitely a big achievement. As cell phone users know, many of
today's feature-packed cell phones are so equipped that battery life has been
greatly affected. Many of today's smart phones last no longer than two to three
hours of talk time. At the same time, users are demanding more out of their
devices.

TI announced that it has developed the smallest 45nm SRAM memory cell, taking
up a mere 0.24 square microns. This is 30 percent smaller than Intel's smallest
SRAM cell said TI. In fact, due to design, TI says that its 45nm SRAM cell is
up to 30 percent smaller than other 45nm SRAM cells. According to the report,
TI will be manufacturing the new chips out of its Texas facility, with samples becoming
available next year and full production occurring in the middle of 2008. According
to TI's press release:

Other improvements in how many transistors TI's 45-nm process can support on
a chip can be attributed to the use of an ultra low-k dielectric that achieves
a k value of 2.5, and reduces interconnect capacitance by 10 percent. This will
be TI's third-generation process technology to use low k dielectrics for
reducing capacitance and propagation delays within a device's interconnect layers,
and boosting chip performance.

With the mobile market ever expanding, and at such an incredible rate, TI's
pressure on Intel for pumping out faster, smaller and more efficient chips will
only mean a win-win situation for the end user.

"Well, there may be a reason why they call them 'Mac' trucks! Windows machines will not be trucks." -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer